One of the indicator of badness in film is the hype being
remembered more than film itself. Such was the case with
BOXING HELENA, 1993 directorial debut of Jennifer Chambers
Lynch, daughter of the great David Lynch. Made in the dying
years of post-TWIN PEAKS Lynch craze among movie snobs, it
was hyped as another, "warped, twisted masterpiece" of Lynch
clan. Kim Basinger also provided extra publicity by quitting
the lead role and being sued for the breech of contract.
But, the result was extremely disappointing film, which
quickly sank into well-deserved oblivion.

The movie protagonist is Nick Cavanaugh (played by Julian
Sands), talented surgeon who is getting obsessed by Helena
(Sherilyn Fenn), beautiful woman who ditched him after brief
affair. Cavanaugh stalks her and uses every opportunity for
the pathetic attempts to re-establish the relationship.
During one of such occasions, Helena is hit by a car, and
Nick quickly takes the role of her personal physician in
order to have his way with her. After she wakes up, Helena
discovers not only that she is prisoner in Cavanaugh's
stylish residence, but also that Cavanaugh amputated her
legs in order to prevent her from escaping. She is still
trying to escape, so Cavanaugh takes off her arms.

Apart from casting Sherilyn Fenn (Audrey Horne in TWIN PEAKS
and small cameo in WILD AT HEART) and the use of twisted
characters and their perverse fantasies, this film by Ms.
Lynch hasn't got anything in common with the works of
director's more talented father. Despite rather bizarre
subject, the style of this film is conventional and setting
is light, characters are beautiful - but the result at the
end is quite sterile and the film in the end looks too
artificial for dark sexual fantasy it was supposed to
portray. Jennifer Lynch obviously lacks talents in directing
and it becomes painfully obvious in the scenes that are
supposed to erotic - its banal artificiality is even bellow
the standards of Playboy videos. The actors aren't good
either. Julian Sands is terribly miscast as emotionally
disturbed man - this actors is best either when he plays
charismatic protagonists or villains; being neurotic doesn't
suit him. Bill Paxton was better for this role, but his
presence was wasted in forgettable and unnecessary subplot
dealing with Helena's boyfriend. Sherilyn Fenn contributed
to this film mostly by her looks, but even the her greater
effort in acting couldn't help this film. The screenplay, on
the other hand, is awful, at least for someone who had made
best-seller with Laura Palmer's diary - the events in this
movie are implausible, characters come and go without
purpose and many unnecessary subplots only slow down the
film and add to the total confusion. One of those subplots
involves character of Cavanaugh's "regular" girlfriend,
played by Betsy Clarke. The twist at the end, although
unpredictable, is unbelievable and the viewers, who had the
stomach to endure entire film, would feel cheated. All in
all, BOXING HELENA is disorganised quasi-artistic mess of a
movie that should be remembered as nothing more than one of
the wiser decisions in Kim Basinger's career.